public class Semaphore

Summary

A classic counting semaphore.

Remarks

The .NET framework does not introduce a counting semaphore until framework release 2.0. Consequently, we implement one here, for the benefit of .NET 1.1.

Property Summary

Flags	Type	Name	Summary
public	`int`	`Value` (r)	Retrieve the current semaphore value.

Constructor Summary

Flags	Name	Summary
public	`Semaphore(int initialCount)`	Create a Semaphore, with its counter initialized to the value passed in.
public	`Semaphore()`	Create a Semaphore, with its counter initialized to 1.

Method Summary

Flags	Name	Summary
public	`void Release()`	Release a single resource, incrementing the count by one.
public	`bool TryWait()`	Acquire a single resource, decrementing the count by one and returning true, if a resource is available; otherwise, return false immediately.
public	`void Wait()`	Acquire a single resource, decrementing the count by one.

Property Detail

public int Value (r)

Summary

Retrieve the current semaphore value.

Remarks

Consider carefully whether this property is actually what you want - usually, using this property is wrong, and either Wait() or TryWait() is the correct choice.

Constructor Detail

Semaphore

public Semaphore(int initialCount)

Parameters

Name	Type
initialCount	`int`

Summary

Create a Semaphore, with its counter initialized to the value passed in.

Semaphore

public Semaphore()

Summary

Create a Semaphore, with its counter initialized to 1.

Method Detail

Release

public void Release()

Flags	public
Return type	`void`

Summary

Release a single resource, incrementing the count by one.

TryWait

public bool TryWait()

Flags	public
Return type	`bool`

Summary

Acquire a single resource, decrementing the count by one and returning true, if a resource is available; otherwise, return false immediately.

Wait

public void Wait()

Flags	public
Return type	`void`

Summary

Acquire a single resource, decrementing the count by one.

Remarks

Not interruptable - will retry forever until a resource comes available.